Romancing the Fourth Wall
by LesbianCalamity
Summary: Emma Swan is a geeky adorkable comic book writer that has just landed a major movie deal for her comic book, Disenchanted. Regina Mills is the A-List celebrity that has just signed on to play the role of the Evil Queen.


**Warnings:** The briefest of legal drug use, Meta  
 **Chapter Summary:** Emma is a comic book writer at the San Diego Comic Con, trying to help her youngest fan find his mom.  
 **Notes:** I would like to thank my Once RP group for helping me brainstorm. They might be a bunch of Hookers mostly, but I would literally fight anyone that has a negative thing to say about them. Thanks guys. Much love to you guys. Also, I wrote all of the SQW prompts as potential first chapters. Some of them I've very happy with. Others I'm still looking at sideways. Looking at you Day 2 and Day 3. But it's all good. I may finish these potential multi chapter ficts if people want them. Since they are all romantic is some way, expect a rating change in the near future.  
 **Disclaimer:** I do not own any of these characters, or whatever the hell else. They belong to Disney, ABC etc, etc, I claim no rights to copyrighted material, and this story is purely for entertainment purposes.

* * *

"Um… Hi, my name is um… Ashley… and um… my question is for everyone…"

Ashley was young. No older than 16. Her long blonde hair was stuffed under a beanie and she was wearing a t-shirt with read "You Can't Take the Sky From Me," under a heavy coat that was a bit much for San Diego in August even in the cool air conditioned Convention Center. Her jeans were full of holes, but they weren't the fashionable kind. They were the kind that only came from wear and tear.

If she was wearing Chuck Taylors and had weed in one of her many jacket pockets, Emma Swan could swear she was looking a living photo of herself at sixteen.

"Alright, then Ashley," Killian spoke and a gaggle of little girls in the back swooned (every time, this happens every single con). '"Let's hear the question."

Killian always made his Irish accent more… "Irishy" for these cons. He had been living in New York for six years now and despite his claims to the contrary, his accent was fading slightly. Unless his brother came to town, then he got really Irish. And Emma would have to bail the Brothers Jones out of jail. Though that happened less now that Liam had little Liam.

"Forgive, Killian," Ruby said, rolling her eyes. "He seems to think that an accent is a substitution for a personality."

"It's still fucking hot though!" Someone shouted in the crowd.

Killian grinned. "Thank you."

"Don't encourage him," Ruby said. "Where is your person?"

Emma chuckled. It's why they needed Ruby on the squad. She kept them honest. Between Killian's… Killian-ness and Emma's ability to constantly stuff her foot in her mouth, Ruby was the happy medium between them. She was the lynchpin of this trio. And the Hermione to Emma's Harry.

"Sorry about them, Ashley," Emma spoke, finally, trying to get the panel back on track. "What was your question?"

Ashley smiled and with a nervous laugh she asked her question, "With how Hollywood has handled queer characters in the past, i.e. erasing Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Wonder Woman's bisexuality, making previous gay characters straight or asexual, or the over-sexualization of non vixen characters, are you worried about how Disenchanted will be adapted for the screen?"

Emma's eyes widened and Killian and Ruby looked at her like she magically knew the answer to life, the universe, and everything. And she did; it was 42. But she didn't know how to answer Ashley.

"I guess this it's my turn to answer a tough question," Emma quipped, thankful that some people in the audience laughed. "And the answer, Ashley is yes and no. As a kid growing up in a time were the only queer representation I had in pop culture was Ellen, Waylon Smithers, Will and Grace, and Joss Whedon and his love for the dead lesbian lover trope, I didn't think we'd see as much queer representation as we have now. We still have a ways to go, but I feel like if there was a good time for a movie based on our comics it's now. Hopefully, we'll be able to deliver something that is true to the source material."

* * *

"What lead to your decision to make Captain Hook Irish?"

Dozens of amazing characters and everyone always asked about Captain Hook.

Luckily for Emma, Killian was there. He was Hook's number one fanboy. And their leading pirate expert.

"All of the greatest pirates were Irish," he explained with a wink.

Truth be told comic signings were Emma's least favorite part of her job. She was always blown away by the fans and their devotion but these signings always left her exhausted. Which was why the guys let her take breaks often.

"Go for a walk," Ruby whispered. "We've got it for a few."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, get some water, take a walk, pretend to be a normal geek for five minutes."

"You're my favorite, Rubes."

"I thought I was your favorite Swan."

"You're my second favorite, Killian."

"Damn right."

Emma left the table and made a mad dash from one of the empty rooms for panelists. Despite Ruby's orders, she needed five minutes to herself. If only to recharge the batteries so she could get through the second half of the day.

And to literally sneak a toke.

What? It was legal in California now. And Emma had one of those electronic vape pens that used hash oil. She didn't travel without it. Definitely a must have. She just had to take a quick look around to make sure no one was near her and…

"You smoke?!"

Emma nearly jumped out of her skin, the surprise causing her to hack up a lung in her mad scramble to put the vape pen away, as she fanned at the vape cloud.

"Its medicinal," she blurted out before she got a good look at the intruder.

He was a dark haired boy. Small. 8 or 9. Maybe 10 or 11. Emma wasn't good at this stuff. He looked at her with big green eyes, wide with shock and awe.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing, kid," she said quickly. "What are you doing here?"

"Well… um…"

Emma cocked an eyebrow. "If you're about to lie, don't. The truth might get you farther with me, kid."

"I wanted to get you to sign my comic," he squeaked, holding up the first issue of Disenchanted. "I waited in line. And then I saw you leave."

"Ruby or Killian would have signed it, kid." Still waiting on a phone call from studio suit about casting, Emma did not have time for this.

"But I wanted you to," he said, passionately. "I want to be a comic book writer, like you when I grow up."

"You want to write comics?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I write stories now. I have one about a little boy with a magic pen that makes what he writes come to life."

 _Aw. Baby's first Gary Stu._

It was cute. And yes, that's how it usually started. It sounded like he had caught the writing bug. Emma was about the same age when it happened to her. Ten years old and she was writing out stories about an orphan girl who life had ignored but was somehow destined for greatness. A coping mechanism for dealing with a rotten childhood. But in the pages of those old ratty journals was the beginnings of what would eventually become Disenchanted.

Emma took a deep breath and let it out. "Ok, kid. I'll sign it."

He beamed. "Really? You will?"

She shrugged. "Yeah sure, kid."

He rushed over to her, nearly tripping over his feet in his excitement. "My name is Henry. Henry Mills."

With a chuckle, Emma took his comic and signed it. 'Dear Henry, writing isn't easy, but it's worth it. Keep creating. - Emma Swan'.

"So Henry, where is your adult?" Emma asked as she gave him back his comic. When he fidgeted, she stopped him before he could lie. "You snuck off, didn't you?"

Henry looked at his feet, sheepishly. "Yes."

"Seriously, kid?"

"It's not like my mom was watching me," he told her. "She probably doesn't even know I'm gone."

"Your mom is probably worried sick." Though it was odd nothing was announced over the P.A. "Let's go find her."

* * *

As they walked the floor, Henry and Emma talk about everything nerd. They got the important stuff out of the way. They found out that they both loved science fantasy over science fiction. They were both Team Magneto. Henry declared proudly that he was a Gryffindor. While Emma admitted she was in Hufflepuff, probably.

"Okay, kid… most important question: Sith or Jedi?"

Henry made a face. "Trick question. The Jedi are evil. And the Sith are crazy. Just be Han Solo."

"The Jedi are evil?"

"They steal kids from their families." He shrugged. "Good guys don't do that. Heroes don't kidnap kids. Villains do that."

Emma grinned. This kid was alright. "So why do you like my comic?"

Henry's eyes lit up. "Oh my god! It's the best. It's like Disney but dark. Like the original Brothers Grimm stuff. Or Hans Christian Andersen. The bad guys are so cool. And like the heroes… well sometimes they're heroes and sometimes they don't make good choices, but always for the right reasons."

"Who's your favorite character?"

"The Red Knight. She's so awesome. Always standing up to the Evil Queen. Her and Captain Hook make a good team but I'm so glad they didn't get together."

"Not a CaptainKnight shipper, huh?"

Henry made a face. "Ew. No. I like the Red Knight. And I like Captain Hook. But I don't ship CK."

"Do you ship anyone?"

The kid's cheeks redden. "You're gonna laugh."

"Try me, kid."

"Fine. But promise you won't laugh."

"Cross my heart."

"The Red Knight and the Evil Queen are my OTP."

Emma couldn't help but smile. "You wanna know a secret?" When he nodded, enthusiastically she continued, "They're mine too. KnightsQueen is life."

He grinned. "Really? Then why aren't they together?"

"Because I don't want either of them to become just someone's love interest. It's why CaptainKnight didn't happen either. Because if it did, they wouldn't be the same characters anymore. He wouldn't be Captain Hook and she'd stop being the Red Knight." Emma cringed. "Sorry kid, did that make any sense?"

"Yeah, totally. You don't want Hook or the Red Knight to become nothing more than sexy lamps."

"Yeah, exactly. Sexy lamps are the literal worst." She frowned when she actually took the time to play back this exchange. And she only had one question. "How old are you, kid?"

"Ten. I read a lot. I told my mom I wanted to be a writer so she got me books on writing. The term sexy lamp was in one of them."

This kid… who raised this kid? Emma supposed she'd find out soon enough. They were getting close to where Henry said his mom would be. Even after she suggested they go to the Help Desk, he insisted she was here.

"Trust me, Emma," he had said. "She's still in the same spot."

Emma was beginning to have second thoughts as they approached the backstage area for the Birds of Prey panel. It was the biggest movie featuring female leads in the next year. Security was tight. And yes, Emma tried to use her clout as someone in "the Industry" to get seats. Apparently she was just comic book nerd famous, not Comic Con famous. So denied.

But people let Henry pass with little to no problem. The only issue he seemed to run into was that Emma was with him. But the kid just had to say, "She's with me." And they'd let him pass with a "I'm very sorry, Mr. Mills."

 _Who in the holy hell is this kid's mom?_

Henry lead them into a green room where the first thing that greeted them was the frantic overtures of a mother worried about her offspring.

"Graham, I don't care if you have to search every inch of the Convention Center. Find him, please."

But Emma couldn't pay any attention to any of that as touching as it was. All she could think was what she unfortunately spoke out loud.

"The Huntress is your mom, kid? Seriously?"

Henry rolled her eyes. "Not you too."

She didn't have to ask what he meant. When your mom is Regina Mills, people probably fangasmed all the time in his presence. But she wasn't going to doing to do that. Because Emma was a grown adult. A grown adult with a movie based on her work coming out in two years. She was not going to piddle, or squee, or hyperventilate, or babble.

"Henry?"

 _God, she is fucking gorgeous. Dammit, Emma._

That was a point of fact though. There was only a few people in existence that were universally beautiful, and Regina Mills was one of them. Dark features, olive skin. She dressed like a hot lawyer. If a person didn't find Regina Mills attractive they were either asexual or dead. Even being blind wasn't an excuse. Because if a person listened to some of her interviews (which Emma had) they know she had a voice that was like velvet or silk. Just… awesome.

 _Hold to it together, Emma._

Regina rushed over to the kid, relief etched very clearly on her face, and she embraced him.

"Are you okay? Where have you've been? What happened?"

"Mom, stop," he groaned, clearly embarrassed by the public display of affection, as he pulled away. "I was fine. I told you that the Disenchanted signing was at one. I wanted to get Emma Swan to sign my comic."

"You could have gotten Graham to take you," Regina said.

"Graham looks like a bodyguard. I just wanted to fit in," he confessed.

"But now you've caused one of the staff to take time off of their busy schedule to bring you to me," Henry's mother told him.

The kid frowned. "Mom, this is Emma Swan."

The look of sheer and utter disbelief was enough to make Emma feel inadequate. Or maybe it had something to do with being in the presence of epic beauty wearing a shirt that read, " _Rogues do it from behind._ " Or maybe it was both.

"You're Emma Swan, the writer of Disenchanted?" Regina asked.

Emma offered her a sheepish, "Hi."

Regina blinked in surprise, her gaze for a second dipping to her shirt, which Emma tried to hide with her jacket. Though she suspected the damage was already done.

"I'm Regina Mills, thank you for returning Henry safe and sound." She offered Emma her hand as she spoke.

"It was no problem," Emma replied as they shook hands. "He's a good kid."

"Thank you," Regina said, breaking away. "I look forward to working with you."

"I'm sorry, what?"

She smiled and Emma had to remind herself to breath. "I guess the studio hasn't called you yet. I've only just gotten off the phone with them. It seems I'm going to be your Evil Queen."

"Mom? You got the part?" Henry asked, excitedly. "Really?"

"Yes, I got the call while you were away. I'll be playing the Evil Queen. But I had one condition," Regina explained.

The kid was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "What was it?"

"I would only do it if the creators wrote the script and were on set creative consultants," she revealed.

And it was like someone had sucked the air out of the room. Emma didn't have much time to dwell because her cell started to vibrate. She looked at the caller ID. It was August, her manager. He was calling with news about the movie.

 _Holy shit._

This was really happening.

"You should probably get that, Miss Swan," Regina told her. "It might be an important phone call."

* * *

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